In autumn, when Styria glows in its splendid array of colours, an annual ritual of great importance begins for us: the harvest of pumpkin seeds and the production of the finest pumpkin seed oil. Join us as we take an exclusive look behind the scenes of harvest time at Steirerkraft.
The pumpkin harvest is the most intense time of year for us. Together with around 1,000 contract farmers, we bring the ripe fruit in from the fields.
Our Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) is pressed exclusively from pumpkins grown in the EU-protected PGI region – which covers Styria, southern Burgenland, and parts of Lower Austria. Corn and scarlet runner beans are also grown on the same fields.
Harvest and Seed Extraction
Harvesting is done using specially developed machines that separate the seeds from the pulp right in the field. The shells remain on the field as organic matter and are worked back into the soil.
Cultivation follows crop rotation – oil pumpkins alternate with other crops, which relieves the soil and reduces disease pressure.
From Seed to Bottle
- Washing and drying – the seeds are cleaned and gently dried
- Grinding – ground into a fine mass in the oil mill
- Mixing into a paste – the mass is mixed with salt and water
- Roasting – our oil millers determine the temperature and duration; this is where the roasted flavour develops
- Pressing – using the traditional stamp-press method
- Storing – about a week in a cooled tank, allowing sediment to settle
Bottling
It takes about 2.5 kilograms of pumpkin seeds to produce one litre of pumpkin seed oil – roughly the equivalent of 30 pumpkins.
Our in-house quality management continuously checks the oil for purity, flavour, aroma, consistency, colour, and roast character.
Not Just Oil
Not all the seeds go into the press: some are roasted, salted, ground, or dipped in chocolate. Together with scarlet runner beans, apple crisps, polenta, and popcorn corn, they make up our product range.
